The present invention relates to an improved surgical bone tie for use in surgical procedures in connecting adjacent portions of bones which have been separated.
By way of background, in open-heart surgery the sternum is severed longitudinally to obtain access to the chest cavity. In the past, one method of securing the severed portions of the sternum to each other utilized surgical wires. However, the use of such wires was not satisfactory because they acted in the nature of a cheese cutter to cut through the bone when the bone was subjected to a separating force. In addition, twisting the free ends of the wires to secure them created a sharp barb which tore the skin. Furthermore, devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,201,215 and 4,279,248 were proposed. However, these were deficient for a number of reasons, namely, their complexity and further because they exerted pressure on blood vessels which are located on the underside of the sternum.